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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Tuesday, July 24 Updated: July 25, 3:11 AM ET |
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| Agassi also wins opening match Associated Press | |||
LOS ANGELES -- Pete Sampras struggled in his first match
since Wimbledon, but raised his game to eliminate Chris Woodruff
7-5, 6-2 on Tuesday.
Sampras needed 77 minutes and delivered 12 aces to one for
Woodruff in the first-round match at the Mercedes Benz Cup.
"It has been a long break since Wimbledon and it's good to put
it on the line," he said. "It was very difficult after Wimbledon.
It was a close match, it was a tough loss. It does get tougher as
you get older. I should have won this year, but I came up short."
Sampras lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon to Roger Federer
of Switzerland. Sampras has won the tournament seven times.
As far as Woodruff is concerned, Sampras said, "I got a good
start and picked it up in the second. Chris has beaten me before."
Sampras loss 7-6, 6-2 to Woodruff in February in the second
round at Memphis.
Sampras' next opponent will be defending champion Michael Chang
on Wednesday night.
Also Tuesday, Andre Agassi looked like he was going to
sweep James Blake, but ended up in a "dogfight" to win his
first-round match 6-0, 7-6 (3).
Third-seeded Agassi, playing in his first match since Wimbledon
at the Mercedes Benz Cup, won the first set in 18 minutes before
Blake started punching back, taking the second set into a
tiebreaker.
Blake was two points from sending the match into a third set
before they reached the tiebreak. Agassi wore him down and took the
first five points in the tiebreak and the last two in the match.
"It was not surprising," Agassi said. "When you're up 6-0 and
1-0, you're not up 7-0. You're not playing one to 12, so it isn't
the best thing that can happen out there, because then it turned
into a dogfight."
Agassi faces England's Greg Rusedski on Thursday. Rusedski beat
Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 6-4, 7-6 (4) on Monday.
Second-seeded Marat Safin of Russia, the current U.S. Open
champion, outgunned teen sensation Andy Roddick 6-3, 6-4. Safin
blasted a couple of 130 mph serves in the other first-round match
played Tuesday night.
Fifth-seeded Jan-Michael Gambill and eighth-seeded Tommy Haas
were straight-set winners earlier Tuesday.
Gambill, from Colbert, Wash., needed exactly one hour to beat
American Michael Joyce 6-1, 6-3, while Haas, of Germany, took 67
minutes for his victory over South Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee, 6-4,
6-4.
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ALSO SEE Tuesday's results | |
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